The best festival yet was the view of artists and audiences alike as clearing up continued through the night after the 33rd Beverley Folk Festival on the town’s Racecourse.
Well over 100 acts from all parts of the country performed in 9 different venues as part of the in the weekend festival, plus hundreds more local performers ranging from Beverley Community Choir to 3 teams of Irish step dancers and members of 5 local folk clubs.
“We’re still calculating the overall attendance,” explained festival manager and programmer John Watterson, “but it looks as though we’ve set a new record over the three days.”
“For example, we had almost 1,200 people in the Main Stage Marquee on Sunday evening to see one of the festival headliners, Kate Rusby and that’s a record for a single concert.”
“We also increased the capacity of our second main stage by bringing in a Big Top circus-style tent and were pleased to see that packed-out for much of the festival.”
Other headliners who attracted big crowds included recent Folk Awards winners, Gillmore and Roberts, the Young’uns and Tim Edey, plus folk legends like Steeleye Span, Animals and Friends, Lindisfarne Story Band and the Acoustic Strawbs,
The festival also introduced a new ticketing policy for 2016, with Weekend, Day and Half-Day tickets and fewer single event tickets. “They all sold well and we benefited from having a simpler system,” explained festival Chairman, Matt Snowden, “We also added a new £3 “taster” ticket which attracted over 1,000 local people to visit the festival site (under 12’s free) and enjoy the outdoor performances and community events”.
“All in all, we are pretty confident that we’ve had our biggest-audience yet,” said Matt, adding: ““We also had our best-ever year for “Early Bird” advance sales for the 2017 festival.”
John Watterson, in his first year as festival manager/programmer, had a special word of praise for the festival volunteers; “We had almost 300 volunteers helping to make things run smoothly,” he said, “From Stewards and Stage Managers to Car Park and Camp Site staff – all of whom are crucial to the success of the festival.”
Writer Ian Clayton, who provided a talk and a writing workshop during the event, was also full of praise for the festival:
“It was of the best organised and run festivals I’ve been to for years.” he said, “Andy, the volunteer who came to look after me was brilliant and even joined in, writing his own stuff. the whole experience was a happy one.”
“The setting is also perfect and the craft market had things that you don’t normally see. The whole team of you need a medal as big as a dustbin lid.”
Another satisfied customer was Louise Adams, Sport, Play and Arts Service Manager for East Riding of Yorkshire Council, one of the festivals’ principal funders, along with Arts Council England and Beverley Town Council:
“I thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon wandering in and out of the tents and listening to some great music,” she said, “The festival lay-out was excellent and it was lovely to see so many people taking in the music, the stalls, the catering and just enjoying the atmosphere.”
“I stood and listened to the Grand old Uke of York for a while – changed my mind totally on ukulele bands, they were fantastic!”
Further praise from John Watterson was directed at Leila Cooper and Sam Pirt, both of whom staged daily events in the Moonbeams marquee:
“They both did a great job bringing young and emerging talent to the event and their sessions are a huge asset to the festival.”
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